Delivery systems, tools, and cool patches

When I think about self protection skills there are quite a few things that could be considered essential. Considering all the aspects of a complete self protection package, and trying to cover all the bases, it’s easy to get off the trail and into the weeds, forgetting that the fundamentals are what will save us. That doesn’t mean we suddenly embrace a lowest common denominator mentality, it does mean we want to work as intelligently as we work intensely. We want to choose movements that give us the biggest return for our investment. This is one reason we want to focus on Delivery Systems rather than techniques. Years ago Matt Thornton, President of the Straight Blast Gym International, coined the term Delivery System. Matt covers that topic in this clip here.

An example I like to use is the Jab/Cross combo from Boxing. This is a movement I’ve invested a lot of time in developing because it has so much carryover to other movements in my self protection package. Boxing is a fantastic Delivery System and within that Delivery System, the Jab/Cross is a fundamental that has great carryover value to everything else I do. If I have an opponent pinned down with a knee ride, a steady knuckle storm of straight lefts and rights might be just what the doctor ordered. If I’m caught up against a fixed object such as a wall, or parked car, a unrelenting series of straight lefts and rights might be the key to getting my opponents off of me and keeping them off of me. If I find myself in a situation where I’m in imminent fear of death or serious bodily injury the ability to throw a powerful jab and/or cross coupled with a fixed blade might save my life.

The patch created for PEP speaks to the essence of focusing on Delivery Systems development. Every tool becomes a weapon if we’ve built a robust delivery system. Think about the amount of damage you can do with something as simple as a screwdriver in your hand while throwing a series of jabs and crosses with proper body mechanics and finely honed timing.